Friday, 30 December 2011

Fairy Tales they just keep coming…
2012; Year of the Fairy Tale Part 2

So a few weeks ago I did a blog (2012; The Year of the Fairy Tale) about
the abundance of fairy tale adaptations and re-working due to come out in 2012,
(which is incidentally the year 200th anniversary of the first
publication of the Grimm’s Fairytales). Well it turns out there’s a whole load
more so here’s a quick round up…

Pinocchio- A stop-motion animated
feature film directed by,Pans Labyrinth’s, Guillermo De Terro,with affects by
Henderson/Grimly and Music by Nick Cave. Of course De Terro, is no stranger to
dark narrative, and it looks like Pinocchio will be do different, with new
envisioning, having the Blue Fairy as a dead girls sprit, and Pinocchio having
lucid dreams. A release date has not yet been set up the images look amazing.

De Terro, is obviously not content
with tackling one fairy tale, as he is also working on a adaption of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and it has been rumoured that Emily Watson is set to star in the
title role.

Another director with great fairy tale
potential is Joe Wright director of the dark and fairy tale-esk,Hanna.Wright
is set to direct the Sony Movie project ‘Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale’ based
on the book published earlier this year by Carolyn Turgeon.

2013, will see Angelina Jolie, as
Maleficent, the evil sorceress in the new Sleeping Beauty feature film call
Maleficent. As yet not much is known about the project, but I reckon that
Angelina will probably pull off evil sorceress rather well.

It’s not all; big screen the small
screen is always in on the action too. This year saw the airing of NBC fairy
tale based detective series Grimm,about a Portland detective who starts to get
visions of ordinary people turning in to vicious monsters, as a ‘Grimm’ he has
to keep the balance between reality and myth, helped by the reformed ‘Big Bad
Wolf’.

So there we have it more fairy tales
heading our way in 2012 and 2013, and there is something more confidence
inspiring, knowing the likes of De Terro and Wright are involved, as we may
actually be in with a chance of some truly dark productions that are sympathetic to the nature of fairy tales.

Just to round off here's some links to the trailers of some of the fairy tale Movies coming out in 2012...

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

A child who never ages and whose force of will, stopped death from taking her. She is the only resident of a village that has long been abandoned and burnt. She accompanies The Hunter on his travels as he hunts the dangerous Red Riding Hood.

Monday, 19 December 2011

Writing can be a lonely life; The Importance of Writing Buddies.

A year ago I was a lone-writer, writing at home, isolated
from the world. Talking about my book and writing, to any and every ear
available. I spent weeks glued to the computer, writing, and editing, morning,
noon and night. And on the rare occasions I wasn’t at the PC, I was researching
or plotting with pen and notepad in hand. I started to look like a member of a
certain family from a certain popular series of Young Adults novels, where the
main characters are pasty white with black rings around their eyes, and are
pretty emotionless. Yes, writing can be a lonely life.

But then this changed. I joined a local writing group, AbingdonWriters. I had a terrifying first session where I had to audition by reading
out my work (to people other than family) for the first time ever. I was
accepted into the group, and joined properly last December (2010)

Well a year has flown by, and a lot has happened. I’ve met a
fantastic group of local writers; some published, some aspiring, some embarking
on self-publishing. The best thing is that it’s a community, and we support
each other, negating the need to talk at every person I come in to contact with
about my book. We meet twice monthly to critique sections of each other’s work,
and on the whole, the advice is very welcome, good, and improves the
manuscript.

The Children’s writers also started a subgroup - Abingdon
Writers Children’s Sub-Group, or AWCSG (we need a new acronym for this;
suggestions welcome.) The six of us took the critiquing to a new level, firstly
by all joining SCBWI (Society of Children Book Writer and Illustrators) and
helping each other prepare our submission for their bi-annual UndiscoveredVoices Competition. But also by critiquing the whole manuscripts, giving us
much needed feedback on story arc, character development, and the novel’s as a
the whole. Plus helping each other with
developing our pitches, writing synopsis’s and query letters. We have all come along way, and one of us, JoWyton, actually is going to be in Undiscovered Voices 2012 anthology!

Also with us all joining the fabulous SCBWI, I’m now in
contact with some fantastic new writing buddies over the net. Plus, SCBWI opens
up countless opportunities, like meeting agents face to face at the AgentsParty in September.

All in all what I’m saying is writing is fantastic, I love
it, but it’s become a whole lot more fun now that I have writing friends. So,
don’t be a lonely writer. Join a critique group and who knows where it will
take you!

Some of my lovley writing buddies from Abingdon Writers.

And finally, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone
at Abingdon Writers for making me so welcome. And Special Thanks to GabbyAquilina for running it, and of course the children’s Sub-group; Chris Evett,Clare Fitzpatrick, Sue Shaw,Nicki Thornton, and Jo Wyton.

Monday, 12 December 2011

My mum was clearing out the attic the other day and she came across
the first two books I ever wrote. Well I say wrote, but there is not much in
the way of words, I was seven when I made them, but with a reading and writing
age of much lower, due to dyslexia. So these are more like exceptionally crude
graphic novels, ‘Fruits Basket’ by Natsuki Takaya, they are not. However they are my
first endeavour in the world of writing, and now, they are over 25 years old,
and just go to show that writing, and love of narrative is a passion that
starts early.

I always loved telling, writing and drawing stories, but I was discouraged
from writing due to my dyslexia. I recall starting a novel at college, a tale
of talking rodents which was very much in the spirit of ‘The Rats of Nimh’ and ‘The Deptford Mice’, but when my flat mate (who was studying English Literature)
read them she told me not to continue due to my bad spelling and lack grammar.

I spent my life being told not to write, and there for doing just
that – Not writing. Not writing has never stopped me from seeing stories, and making
stories up in my head, and the years have never quelled the longing to share
them. So eventually I started to write. For me. I sat down at the PC, and wrote
500 words, which I printed off and left on the printer. A few weeks later my sister
found it, read it, and to asked questions, she was hooked, and wanted to read
more. So then I thought, well, I’ll write and I’ll work hard and I’ll see what
happens. So, now I find myself (a few years later) with a manuscript (which is
to be honorary mentioned in the Undiscovered Voices Anthology) that I’m about
to start submitting to agents.

So where am I going with this you may be asking? Well, here it is:
writing makes me happy. It feels right: - that it’s what I should always have
been doing. I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s NOT. Especially if you’re, (like me)
hindered by dyslexia. But it’s a passion, and one I’ve denied for a long time.

No, you’ve not
miss read the list. I did not make it through. So here is a huge heart felt
commiserations to the following long-lister’s who, like me, were destined to be
almost discovered (I know how it feels believe me)….

Welcome

What to expect from my blog.

The blog has evolved since it started in 2011, to bring news and opinions (mine mostly!) of all thing books plus insights on writing, and dyslexia. From time to time I may blog about my writing projects and share any progress and news!

Give me a read, leave a comment, point out my dyslexia! just let me know what you think.